Tuesday, 13 April 2010

From Carcassonne to Fontjoncouse

I don't seem to have popped in here for ages and if you've missed me I'm sorry but really I'm having so much fun, here in Carcassonne. I love it, its lively, friendly and there's always so much to see and do and it's only April. I never imagined it, being a city girl that is except that Carcassonne is just like a large village.

I've taken lots of yummy pics with all the recent gorgeous weather we've been having but this one has a lovely tale behind it. I had toured the Saturday market early and was just about to hit the café for a coffee or even something stronger as I felt in the holiday mood when His Lordship spotted a bunch of stinging nettles for a euro a bunch. Well nettle soup is delicious although I admit to being a slight wuss at first tasting. The chap with the basket on the right had made his purchase so I thought the shot would be clear, how wrong can you be ? ten minutes later and he was still happily passing the time of day away with the stall holder and it bought home the importance of choosing and selecting fresh produce for consumption and fully enjoying the process rather than a dreary supermarket dash. Food is the language of love and friendship, to be enjoyed, savoured and shared.

Talking of love, the labour of love which surely applies to everyone undergoing an historic renovation is coming along nicely at No.11. I have launched the new website for Vacation Carcassonne and even popped myself up on Facebook so I can slip in snippets of interest and post up events that are going on throughout the year. Its rather alarming to find its mid April and so it looks like No.11 will open in the summer, as there's a booking for a week in July its a case of it must be ready if only I can curb my natural instinct to go into a dream world everytime I discover something of interest in the attic. Yesterday for example found me loitering over albums of postcards all dating back to 1904 and a trip obviously taken on the French Riviera so two hours passed by without me noticing as I studied the pictures and figured out how to best recycle all these little treasures and incorporate them somehow into the decor.

Meanwhile I have to admit that I'm lucky enough to have the use of a bolthole, a lovely self catering gite down in the Corbierés next to the village of Fontjoncouse where the famous restaurant the Auberge Du Vieux Puits has just been awarded its third Michelin star. Languidly lolling on one of the sunbeds round the pool (and please notice I wasn't actually claiming to be IN the pool) its a peaceful place to re-charge ones batteries and contemplate the great scheme of things in general.

I find it puzzling though that life seems to whizz by at an alarming rate and yet progress seems slow by comparison.

Less attic clearing, meandering around the market, lying round pools and more clambering up and down step ladders brandishing a roller painter could be the awful hideous answer.

I love the bolt of sunshine I feel whenever I read one of your posts! The shot of the market was perfect - a little bit of everything and enough on the sides to let us know that this is the real thing.

I am sooo glad you bought this place- the thought of anyone else rifling through all those personal and intrinsic artefacts just abandoned to the whim of any passing person......but then you were never a passing person....I guess he realised that or he would have already sold to someone else......I think fate led you there and you are now the guardian of the attic. How could it be other? And you must tell its story..